Toronto Wine & Spirit Festival 2013

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

This past weekend
I had the pleasure of attending the Toronto Wine & Spirit Festival at Sugar
beach. The Toronto Wine & Spirit
Festival takes place annually and is Toronto’s first outdoor wine and spirit
sampling event. The Festival covers a wide range of beverages such as wine, spirits,
beer, cider, and coolers. There is something available for every palate. The
Festival also brings out local restaurants and chefs who serve up gourmet
creations that pair beautifully with the variety of libations that are
available throughout the show.

This festival is similar to the many Beer Festival events
I have attended where you receive a sampling glass upon entry and visit all of the different booths showcasing their different type of beers.

Some of my highlights:

Sobeys Urban Fresh had a large booth set-up showcasing
some of their Compliments brand cheeses.
I discovered a delicious applewood smoked cheddar made with
unpasteurized whole milk and naturally smoked for six hours on all sides with
applewood chips for a full infusion of flavour.
In general I am a picky cheese eater so it's hard for me to come across
a cheese that I really love. Well this
cheese has won me over. I probably ate
30 chunks of it at the booth, I kind of would walk by every 25 minutes and down
3 to 4 pieces lol It really is amazing and I can only imagine how good a slice
of this would be on a big juicy burger! Will
be testing that out soon.

Magic Moments Vodka: This brand of vodka is 100%
gluten-free, made from 100% rice grain, contains no artificial flavours or
preservatives and come in 3 awesome flavours.
There was chocolate, lemongrass & ginger and raspberry. I ended up trying the chocolate vodka straight
with a bit of ice and it was incredible.
The chocolate taste was very cocoa-beanish and it was very smooth
tasting. I probably couldn't drink too
much of it because it was fairly sweet, but overall a very nice vodka if you
want to make some chocolate martinis. Plus this company is Canadian so that
makes them naturally awesome.

Amsterdam Brewery Orange Weisse Summer White: If you
like wheat beers then this one is a refreshing treat. Predominantly brewed with
un-malted wheat which gives it a hazy appearance and the addition of two types of orange peel,
some coriander, and a touch of anise. The result is a unique flavour
combination of citrus and light spice. Perfect patio or BBQ beer!

Magic Oven: I have heard of the Magic Oven restaurant but
this was my first time trying out their food.
Magic Oven serves a selection of healthy pizzas, pastas and sandwiches.
Their pizzas can be made to accommodate a variety of dietary concerns - they
offer organic spelt pizzas, gluten-free rice flour pizzas and the option of
vegan or lactose-free cheese.

I was hoping to try out their famous pizza but they only
had veggie samosas to serve up. Of course I had 2 of them which were absolutely
delicious!

Cant wait to visit this restaurant and try out more of
their food.

Granville Island Robson Street Hefeweizen: This unfiltered wheat ale is a West Coast favourite.
Enjoy Robson St Hefeweizen chilled in a tall, slim glass with a lemon wedge to enhance the natural fruit flavours of this refreshing beer.
This beer was probably my favourite of all the sampling I did.It had a hint of banana to it which made it
so yummy, this is definitely my beer of choice for this summer.

Pommies Dry Cider: Pommies is made from 100% heritage apples and offers a
waterfall of taste, clarity and refreshment. Pommies takes pride in providing
the most enjoyable drinking experience for anyone who is disillusioned with the
same old coolers and beer. At 5% alcohol, Pommies Dry is quite
simply…Country Cool…and appeals to anyone striving for both quality and
substance.

I actually sampled Pommies awhile back when I received this lovely 4-pack of the cider. At first glance I thought that the bottles were SO CUTE (sucker for good packaging) and was excited to try them out. I usually am picky with my cider as I find a lot of them are way too sweet. Luckily this cider was SUPER refreshing, light and crisp. It was really easy to drink and I actually wasn't sick of them at all (even after the 3rd bottle) This would be an excellent cider to cook with and i'm excited to try out some of the recipes from their website.

Overall this was an excellent event that I hope to attend
every year! For more information about the Toronto Wine & Spirit Festival please visit:

Dear Natalie, This event is a foodie dream!! I would have walked past the cheese place at least 10 times!I am so glad you are enjoying the beautiful weather with fun events. blessings dear. Catherine xo

I so need to visit Toronto. I love all of Canada, but that's one city I just haven't made it to yet. Well, unless you count one night in a hotel after missing a connection flight. But I don't count that at all. LOL